As
tolerant and accepting as people claim to be, many people seem to
enjoy seeing criminals get theirs, at least if the comments section
of any news article on Facebook are any indication. This was the most
popular comic book of it's day. Name any superhero on the stands and
this title outsold them. In a world where organized crime was an
ongoing concern, it was cathartic for people to pick up a fat 68 page
comic for one thin dime and get lost in a world where bad people have
good things happen to them for a while but they all inevitably learn
the fateful lesson that CRIME DOES NOT PAY!

Mister
Crime is the host of the series, and he whispers in the ear of the
various crooks, giving them advice along the way. Mister Crime also
routinely breaks the fourth wall, speaking to readers while everyone
in the story is oblivious to him. Societal mores and slang of the day
are on full display.

Lots
of future greats worked on this series during this time. Carmine
Infantino is well known to all DC fans, while Jack Cole and Dick
Briefer were known in their day and have enjoyed a renewed interest
in recent years due to relatively affordable collected editions like
this one which reprint their work for the masses.

While
the material is stronger here than it was in the first two volumes
this series still hasn't reached it's high point yet. As crudely
written and drawn as many of these stories are it's the promise of
what is coming in future issues that makes some of these turkeys
readable. Golden Age comics are crude but they certainly have their
charms. It's just that the novelty of reading previously rare,
expensive comics has worn off for me and I call them as I see and
read them. This might have been the best selling comic at the time
but DC was burying this in terms of quality. This was still very
enjoyable, but the best is yet to come.

Junk
Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The
OCD zone-
There is a typo on the Table of Contents page. The cover date for #33
is incorrectly listed as May, 1944, when it is in truth April, 1944.

All
original text pieces and advertisements are presented. I dig looking
at the old ads.

Linework
and Color restoration: Solid “frame up” restoration done
off of scans of the original comics.

Paper
stock: Thick uncoated stock. It has a creamy off-white color,
being close to Mint condition pulp paper in appearance while being of
sufficient thickness that it feels like 'Archival' quality paper.

Binding:
Sewn binding which is stiff and does not lay flat. This book is light
and small enough where it is not an issue.